By Kate PlummerShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberU.S. President Donald Trump has been hit with negative new polling regarding the economy.
According to polling by YouGov for CBS News, the majority of Americans who believe the economy is the most important issue to judge Trump on do not believe he is doing enough to deal with it, while a large proportion of people disapprove of his economic policies.
White House spokesman Kush Desai told Newsweek: “Putting Joe Biden’s economic disaster behind us has been the top priority for President Trump since Day One, and the administration continues to push economic policies that are cooling inflation and raising real wages. These same policies created a historic economy with robust job, wage, and investment growth in President Trump’s first term, and Americans can rest assured that President Trump is focused on ensuring that the best is yet to come in his second term.”
Why It Matters
The economy is a key concern for American voters, with a Gallup poll showing that they overwhelmingly cited economic pressures as the main reason they voted for Trump in the November 2024 presidential election. The president pledged to bring down inflation on the campaign trail, but since taking office, the public has taken umbrage with some of Trump's economic policies, including his implementation of tariffs on America's trading partners.
Trump's approval rating will likely have an effect on how voters behave in the November 2026 midterm elections. Republicans have a slim majority of 219 to 214 in the House of Representatives, so if they lose a few seats it could make it difficult for the GOP to carry out its agenda in Trump's last two years of office.
...What To Know
When asked what the most important policy is when judging the Trump administration, most (33 percent) said the economy and inflation, while smaller proportions cited immigration and border policies, government spending and tariff and trade policies.
The poll of 2,489 adults found that of those 33 percent who said the economy was the most important issue to judge Trump on, 77 percent of people believe he is not doing enough on the economy and inflation.
A further 64 percent generally said they disapproved of his economic policies—the lowest approval rating in his second term so far—while 65 percent said Trump's policies are making grocery prices increase and 60 percent said he makes the economy and inflation sound better than they are.
Meanwhile, the proportion of people who said the economy is good has hit a 2025 low—at just 32 percent. This is 6 points lower than in January, when Trump took office, when 38 percent said the economy is good.
The poll was conducted between November 19 and 21 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points.
It follows a Fox News poll which found last week that 76 percent of voters view the economy negatively. This makes Trump less popular on the economy than former President Joe Biden. At the end of his presidency in 2024, Fox News polling showed that 70 percent of people had a negative view of viewed the economy.
More broadly, a recent poll by The Economist/YouGov found Trump’s approval rating at its lowest level since he returned to office in January, with 39 percent of people approving of the job he is doing, and 58 percent disapproving, a net approval rating of -19 points.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social earlier this month: "So many Fake Polls are being shown by the Radical Left Media, all slanted heavily toward Democrats and Far Left Wingers…Fake News will never change, they are evil and corrupt but, as I look around my beautiful surroundings, I say to myself, 'Oh, look, I’m sitting in the Oval Office!'"
What Happens Next
Trump's approval rating on the economy is likely to change based on key economic indicators including inflation.
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